


Give a Little Bit

by chemically_yours



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fix-It, Getting Together, I made it better, M/M, NaruSasu - Freeform, SasuNaru - Freeform, shhh let's all forget chapter 700
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 12:31:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11275380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemically_yours/pseuds/chemically_yours
Summary: Dying, he reflected, was surprisingly peaceful. Sasuke had always associated death with pain and violence, but the violence was over now and the pain had already faded to numbness. His anger was gone now, too. For the first time since that night he’d come home to find his family slaughtered the rage that had fueled him and given him strength was gone. Its absence made him feel light, almost like floating, but maybe that was just the blood loss.





	Give a Little Bit

**Author's Note:**

> So I made this post over on tumblr about my white boy coworker that ships Naruto and Sasuke and we're both salty enough about the end that I decided to make it all better. This may be a few years overdue, but better late than never.
> 
> Edit 10/17/17: Apparently ao3 deleted a few words at the end. It didn't make a huge difference but someone pointed it out so I fixed it.

Dying, he reflected, was surprisingly peaceful. Sasuke had always associated death with pain and violence, but the violence was over now and the pain had already faded to numbness. His anger was gone now, too. For the first time since that night he’d come home to find his family slaughtered the rage that had fueled him and given him strength was gone. Its absence made him feel light, almost like floating, but maybe that was just the blood loss.

Darkness was creeping in all around as Sasuke’s consciousness slipped. He may have heard voices, but that didn’t matter. Nothing really mattered anymore, not even the odd emptiness that felt almost like disappointment that had settled in the vicinity of his chest. There was a light, and Sasuke was pretty sure he was supposed to reach for it, but he wasn’t even sure he still had an arm to grab it with, so he chose to ignore it. He was safe, here in the darkness, and he didn’t really care enough to move. He would just stay here forever.

“No, wake up.”

The voice was achingly familiar, yet as much as Sasuke longed to go to it, he couldn’t seem to move. The darkness had turned heavy and oppressive. A swell of panic began to rise. That voice, he had to get to the place where that voice was, but he was still so numb he couldn’t even feel his body to move it. Maybe this was hell. It would be a good punishment, trapped forever in the darkness that had been his companion in life, unable to reach the person he wanted to see most. He couldn’t say he didn’t deserve it.

Except Sasuke was pretty sure that hell wouldn’t have strong arms wrapping around him, lifting him up and gently carrying him toward the light. He felt like a child and even as part of him rebelled at being treated as such, a bigger part relished the security those arms brought. Safety and warmth surrounded him as they edged closer to the light. It was nearly too bright to look at, but Sasuke thought he could make out shades of green and pink there. He tried to turn away, turn into the embrace, but was stopped by pressure, light and barely there at all, on his forehead.

“I’m sorry Sasuke, but you can’t come with me yet.”

Sasuke tried to respond that it wasn’t fair, they should be able to stay together now, he’d done all he needed to do, he was ready for the end. He got as far as “Ita-” before he was released. There was a roar of sound and sensation and then nothing.

…

The first thing he noticed upon waking was the snoring, loud and obnoxious, somewhere on his left. He stared at the ceiling without seeing it until he registered another presence to his right. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but then again, Kakashi had always been good at unexpectedly doing the expected. He sat on an uncomfortable plastic hospital chair reading one of his pervy books, though surely he had the whole thing mesmerized by now. Sasuke was certain he’d noticed he’d woken up, but he just calmly flipped a page and kept reading. The door opened and Sasuke closed his eyes against the image of soft pink hair. Team 7 was back together at last in the same room. Sasuke wasn’t ready for this. He listened as she checked on the other patient, his snores gentled to murmurs and mixed with the soft scratching of the sheets being straightened out. Sakura came over to him next and checked his vitals, placing a cool hand to his forehead. If she noticed he was awake, she said nothing and merely moved down the line to Kakashi. Sasuke watched from under his lashes as she passed him a small lunch box then moved back to take the seat between the beds. Silence reigned, only broken by the sounds of chewing or the clicking of chopsticks. The snoring resumed.

The next time Sasuke woke, it was to a darkened room and complete silence. Sakura and Kakashi had gone and Sasuke felt their absence keenly. He’d have given anything for them to come back, for him to be able to put this off just a bit longer. He bolstered up his resolve and met the endless sky blue eyes watching on his left.

“Naruto.”

“I was beginning to think you had decided to give us all the silent treatment.”

Sasuke snorted. Naruto didn’t look too bad, all things considered. He must have been healing quickly, if the empty stacks of plates were anything to go by. Sasuke’s stomach clenched tight at the thought of food, rumbling in displeasure. Naruto smiled and revealed a single covered bowl that had been left untouched. It would have gone cold by now, but Sasuke didn’t much care so long as it filled his stomach.

“You’ve been out 3 days. They’re holding a memorial service for the fallen tomorrow.”

Sasuke focused on balancing the bowl in his lap and forcing food into his mouth as quickly as possible without making himself sick. Naruto continued talking, telling him about those who had been lost in the fighting, the cooperation between villages to rebuild, the new bonds being forged. The words filled the space between them, washing away any remaining tension Sasuke had been feeling. Apparently, they weren’t going to talk about him and his role in all this or their fight or what Naruto had sacrificed to bring him here. Okay, that was fine by Sasuke.

He kept listening long after finishing his meal, offering no comments in return. Sometime near dawn when the sun began to light up their room Naruto finally began to lose steam. He fell silent and stretched back on the bed. Sasuke’s eyelids felt heavy in the renewed quiet and the mattress called him back to its embrace. He turned his back to Naruto, determined to be sleeping when the others came back.

“I have to go to the service, but I promise I’ll come back after.”

Sasuke didn’t answer, just merely closed his eyes.

…

Naruto didn’t come back.

It was sundown and Sasuke had spent the day mostly alone, save for the hour or two Kakashi and Sakura had come back and they had all spent the time pretending not to know Sasuke was awake. Sasuke told himself that the broken promise didn’t upset him. This was to be expected. Naruto had clearly healed enough to be discharged from the hospital, so there was no reason for him to return. Besides, after spending the day mourning all those that had been lost, Sasuke was probably the last person he wanted to see.

Sasuke stretched and carefully tested the strength of his legs. There were no chains shackling him to the bed and as far as he could tell, no wards holding him in the room. He wasn’t naïve enough to think that he was completely unobserved, but he felt confident that he’d make it out before they could stop him. It wouldn’t be like last time, he knew. That 12 year old punk he’d been before had needed a whole team of elites to help him escape the village. He was stronger now, smarter. It would be difficult, but entirely within his abilities to make it to the woods and disappear.

A single lap around the room left his body aching and exhausted. He’d need another day or two of healing. If luck was with him, he’d be able to remain in the hospital until then. He collapsed on the bed and felt for the apple he’d hidden under his pillow earlier. Holding it helped center him once more. He had a plan, it would all work out so long as he remained patient.

The door opened and jolted him from thoughts of escape. Naruto set a box containing onigiri on the table next to Sasuke’s bed and then settled down on his own. Sasuke was careful to keep his breathing even and his eyes diverted as he reached out and snatched up the offered food. The smile Naruto sent his way meant nothing to him.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

Naruto beamed at him and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he explained he’d been out talking with people all day and visiting his friends that were still bedridden. Then the Kazekage had wanted to dine with him and invited him back to his inn for dessert but Naruto had declined the offer of extended company to return here. His voice grew gruff and he delivered the last few sentences around heavy yawns. It was only after he had started snoring once again that Sasuke was able to finally voice his thoughts.

“Idiot. Don’t be so late next time.”

…

A week came and went with little change. Sasuke had planned his way out of the village dozens of times, yet he kept finding reasons to hold off on enacting them. Well, one reason. One moronic, talkative, blond reason that seemed to bring the sunshine with him wherever he went.

When the time came, he’d been expecting the Anbu to take him, haul him off to some secret, dark place where they would force him to tell them everything, relive the hell that had been the last year. When they were finished they’d either lock him in a cell and throw away the key or they’d have him executed. Possibly, they’d do this in secret and make sure his remains were never found.

Instead, it was Kakashi who came to talk to him. It wasn’t an interrogation; in fact, Kakashi did most of the talking. The village had seen fit to dismiss all charges against him. Evidently, having the number one hero of the war plead on your behalf was enough to be forgiven of just about anything. Probation. He’d be allowed to live out the rest of his life however he wished (barring more murderous rampages). Really, the new Hokage was far too lenient, though Sasuke wasn’t about to tell him so. He agreed to the terms quickly, the first words he’d spoken to his former teacher since the fighting had stopped. The (Sixth? Seventh?) Hokage just smiled and outlined the conditions of his release.

…

Sasuke stared at the door in front of him with his hand raised, paused in the act of knocking. He’d been given a choice. The old Uchiha district had suffered severe damage with the last attack on the village, so he’d been informed that he was welcome to stay with any member of Team 7. The cruel, twisted part of him had entertained the idea of going to Sakura, but in the end there’d really only been one option. Naruto opened the door beaming from ear to ear as he welcomed Sasuke home.

The apartment was both smaller and tidier than Sasuke had been expecting, but he quickly grew accustomed to his new living arrangement. They took most of their meals together, taking turns cooking (after the first disastrous attempt, Naruto had been delegated to picking up take out on his nights). They talked (Naruto talked, Sasuke listened, and occasionally, shared a tale or two of his own). They healed.

Little by little, Sasuke felt the person he had once been, or perhaps more accurately, the person his eight-year-old self might have someday become, come back. The pain and anger and insanity of the past few years began to melt off in layers like thick sheets of ice. Emotions he’d refused to acknowledge as a genin fluttered back to the surface, unable to be ignored as he sought a new understanding of himself.

A shared look, a gentle touch to his shoulder and Sasuke’s world tilted on its axis before righting itself, zeroed in on blue, blue eyes dancing in amusement. For one glorious instant the flame of possibility danced in his breastbone. It was extinguished a moment later by a flirty one-liner delivered to their server. Sasuke’s appetite left him and his thoughts turned back to his plans for the future. He’d lingered here too long.

…

Naruto hadn’t even had his new artificial limb for 24 hours before Sasuke was getting an up-close and personal view of it, pinned against the living room wall. Naruto had discovered his knapsack and hesitant itinerary for travel plans. Leaving, it would seem, was not something he would allow Sasuke easily or without explanation.

“You just came back to us! Are you really just planning on walking away again?”

To be honest, most of Sasuke’s plans were half-formed. He had no actual destination in mind beyond where he could get in a single day of travel and nowhere that he particularly wanted to go. There were places he thought he might stop, battles and people to revisit, to help him understand his life as it had been and what it might yet still be. The only thing he was absolutely certain of was that he could not stay here any longer.

The village itself wasn’t awful, if you could get past that sideways glances and indistinct but angry mumbling in the streets, the abrupt halt in conversation when he walked into a room, and the outright refusal of some vendors to serve him unless he was accompanied by Naruto. It was his companion that was the problem. Living with Naruto had become unbearable in much the same way as lying out in the sun for too long. It had been pleasant at first, warm and soft in a way that eased his soul and brought him true rest. But it had gone on too long and it was only a matter before he got burned. He could feel the beginning pangs of it already every time the idiot called him ‘friend’ or ‘brother.’ There was only so much he could take.

“I have to. I need to see what it’s really like. I need to live.”

He’d been living as a ghost for far too long, raveled up in his past and refusing to take any real steps toward the here and now. Sasuke was positive he’d be able to do it though, to let go of the pain and move on if he were to get out there and truly see the world for what it was. He wasn’t sure his words would be enough to make Naruto understand, or if he would be able to see this as anything but rejection and abandonment.

“But you are living! You… You’re alive right here, right now. With me.”

With me. For one blissful second Sasuke thought that maybe he hadn’t been projecting or reading too much into things, making Naruto’s actions out to have more meaning. But then the other ninja kept talking, crushing the bit of hope that had started to blossom. Naruto kept his eyes downcast, as if summoning up the words took every bit of effort he was capable of mustering.

“I thought we could finally repair our bond to what it should be. I thought that we could finally be good to each other. As. As brothers.”

The last word was barely a whisper but it sparked a rage in Sasuke that he’d been careful to keep tempered these past few weeks. Brothers. He’d said it before and Sasuke had made his peace with it, but after this time spent living together it was hard to maintain that frame of mind. It was so easy, when they sat across from each other at meals or slept so close in the same room at night, to forget those boundaries.

Brothers. Damn him. Enough was enough. Sasuke was leaving anyway.

“You are not my fucking brother.”

And with that Sasuke leaned in and kissed Naruto square on the mouth. He kept his eyes open long enough to register the look of shock before slipping them closed and focusing on the feel of chapped lips against his own. The first time their lips had met he’d been too shocked to pay attention. This time he planned to memorized everything so he’d be able to cherish the moment and keep it locked away within his heart. He’d need something to warm him on the cold, lonely nights ahead.

They broke apart with Naruto gaping like a fool, mouth moving but no words coming out, as if he couldn’t quite figure out what he meant to say. Sasuke couldn’t help the smirk that overtook his face. He’d finally managed to make the loud-mouthed ninja speechless. He’d have to mark that down as his proudest accomplishment someday.

Finally, Naruto seemed to come back to himself and take in their position, pressed up against the wall together. His breathing came in deep, heavy gulps and Sasuke couldn’t decide if he was holding back anger or panic. He shook himself out of whatever internal debate he was having and met Sasuke’s eyes.

“Not Brothers. Okay. Okay, I can work with that.”

Naruto nodded once, a familiar sign of a mind made up and a new path decided upon. Sasuke waited to be told that they would always be friends, that he was so very important, that this wouldn’t change anything. As if any of that would be a comfort to him now. At the very least this would probably make it easier for Naruto to let him go, eager to get away from the awkwardness of unrequited feelings.

It was then that Naruto lived up to his reputation as the Hidden Leaf Village’s Number One Unpredictable Ninja by leaning back in and bringing their lips back together in the second of what was to be many kisses that evening.

…

They stood together at the gates of the village, packs waiting for them at their feet as they made their goodbyes. Sakura had said that she would have joined them if she could, but there was simply too much here for her to do. She gave them each a hug and quick peck on the cheek, chiding them to remember to take their medicines and to not be gone too long this time. Kakashi wished them good luck with a look that was far too knowing for Sasuke’s comfort.

As one, Sasuke and Naruto picked up their packs and left for their next big adventure.


End file.
